nearly there - now what?

barefootbabe
barefootbabe Posts: 271 Member
in Motivation and Support
I just want to double check something here. I started off on this site not having heaps to lose in a relative sense- I'm pretty tall at 5'9'', and my body was pretty good at distributing fat evenly. I was in my healthy BMI range (which lets me go anywhere from 125-169lbs) and have now just toned up and lost a few pounds and clothes sizes, which is great!

Anyway, it's been about 6 months since I really started focusing on weight loss and I'm now at a 21.1 BMI and only a few pounds off my goal weight of 135. I KNOW it's not all about numbers or sizes, but I have been at 135 before and know that it's a weight I am comfortable, confident, and happy at.

The weight loss has been pretty slow throughout my whole journey, and now since I don't have much more to lose, things are coming to an understandable crawl. I guess my question is this: do I just keep on keeping on and expect the weight to fall away realllllly slowly (like one to two pounds a month) or what? Should I be trying to shake up my routine and speed things up, or just accept that things will be a lot harder and just keep at my normal healthy routine?

I'm happy to amp up my exercise routine, but I don't want to lose the last few pounds because of some hardcore extreme effort and then be disappointed if I can't keep up that effort and find them crawling back on!

Thanks for reading !:flowerforyou:

Replies

  • barefootbabe
    barefootbabe Posts: 271 Member
    I just want to double check something here. I started off on this site not having heaps to lose in a relative sense- I'm pretty tall at 5'9'', and my body was pretty good at distributing fat evenly. I was in my healthy BMI range (which lets me go anywhere from 125-169lbs) and have now just toned up and lost a few pounds and clothes sizes, which is great!

    Anyway, it's been about 6 months since I really started focusing on weight loss and I'm now at a 21.1 BMI and only a few pounds off my goal weight of 135. I KNOW it's not all about numbers or sizes, but I have been at 135 before and know that it's a weight I am comfortable, confident, and happy at.

    The weight loss has been pretty slow throughout my whole journey, and now since I don't have much more to lose, things are coming to an understandable crawl. I guess my question is this: do I just keep on keeping on and expect the weight to fall away realllllly slowly (like one to two pounds a month) or what? Should I be trying to shake up my routine and speed things up, or just accept that things will be a lot harder and just keep at my normal healthy routine?

    I'm happy to amp up my exercise routine, but I don't want to lose the last few pounds because of some hardcore extreme effort and then be disappointed if I can't keep up that effort and find them crawling back on!

    Thanks for reading !:flowerforyou:
  • lotusfromthemud
    lotusfromthemud Posts: 5,335 Member
    What worked for me (and might not work for everyone): I switched to "maintenance calories" here, figuring well, my body will even out, and if this is a healthy weight, than so be it.

    Within a month, the following happened. I gained four pounds (almost immediately) but, I kept the faith. (and didn't get on the scale for the rest of the month) Within the same month, not changing anything (except purchasing a HRM to keep a good eye on my exercise calories) those four pounds dropped off, and took three with them, giving me my ideal dream goal weight.

    I think also (and this is the flakey part of my plan) that letting go of the "I NEED to lose three more pounds!" mentality played a big factor in this. Also, I'm less obsessed about food, and able to enjoy it now. Hey, they say that stress contributes to weight gain, so stressing about losing weight could have been keeping the weight on.

    Just my two cents. :flowerforyou:
  • barefootbabe
    barefootbabe Posts: 271 Member
    Wow Viv, you are brave! I just took the big scary step (about a month ago) of upping my daily calories so that I wasn't eating less than my BMR and that made me REALLY panicky. I don't know if I could take the next step to eating a maintenance level of calories . . . What made you keep going even though you gained? I think that would have made me INSTANTLY abandon the plan and go back to fewer calories!
  • lotusfromthemud
    lotusfromthemud Posts: 5,335 Member
    I had heard that getting out of starvation mode involves weight gain. From the post "700 calories and . . ." (I forget) I think it's in Bank's "newbies please read me". After checking my base calories with my HRM, I've discovered that what this site calls "dieting" is for me "starving". . .due to everyone being different.

    Also, I had to get away from the fear of food. . .I was starting to really question my sanity. I figured, as long as I can still button my pants, I'm sticking with this for a month before I change anything. Through research, I've discovered that it really takes your body a month to adjust to anything new. Important to stay off the scale!!!! :explode:

    Now I'm in the strange predicament of deciding if I actually want to lose more weight, and figuring out when to stop. So, that month was totally worth it.
  • barefootbabe
    barefootbabe Posts: 271 Member
    So are you planning on losing a bit more? Are you happy where you are?

    Anyone else want to "weigh in"?

    :laugh:

    (Ha ha, I kill myself!)

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